Sunday, July 11, 2010

Kylie, cocktails and gay men

Gay and lesbian asylum-seekers have won the right to live in Britain after the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Government was wrong to return refugees to countries where people had to choose between homophobic persecution or hiding their true sexual identity.

The ruling by Britain's highest court ends the Home Office's controversial policy of refusing asylum to gay refugees on the grounds that they could avoid persecution abroad by pretending to be heterosexual.

This is to be welcomed. It was pretty disgusting that the Labour Government deemed it acceptable to ask lesbian and gay people to pretend they were heterosexual. Why should the rights of a lesbian or gay person from another country be worth less than someone born here? The previous Government did much good work in this area, yet somehow thought persecution abroad acceptable, just pretend ? Live a lie .

Would it be acceptable to ask a Jewish or Muslim person, or any religion, to pretend not to be? What about racism? Should a Black person white up? Of course not, ludicrous ? So why would the human right of a person not to be persecuted, and be given protection here, be denied ?

But in amongst this good decision was some stereotyping of gay male (and straight male) culture :Lord Hope, deputy president of the court, who headed a panel of five justices who heard the case of a man from Cameroon and a man from Iran, said that to compel a homosexual to pretend that their sexuality does not exist or can be suppressed was to deny him his fundamental right to be who he is.

Lord Rodger said the normal behaviour of Gay people must be protected as it was for heterosexual people.

"What is protected is the applicant's right to live freely and openly as a gay man. To illustrate the point with trivial stereotypical examples from British society: just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates."

Hmm, Kylie is so last year, Lady Gaga is the latest gay icon.

Seriously though, this brings the issue of a lesbian or gay person's human rights to a very shallow level . Yep, there is the campness, but not for all. I believe there is even an out Gay rugby player ! I know some pretty macho gay men and some sensitive straight ones . It is about someone being able to be themselves , to live and love with who they choose, regardless of gender. Not to hide , pretend and lead a secret life waiting to be found out.

Of course much hysteria ensued from certain sections of the mediayep , we are gonna be flooded by camp queens downing cocktails and singing Kylie songs , like one long Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Or worse still, people pretending to be gay.

The Daily Star is campaigning to overturn the judgement, so that 'outcasts' are refused asylum.

In one case, John Smith, not his real name, said he was a victim of violent homophobia in Uganda before he sought asylum in Britain this year after becoming "tired of running and hiding".

Mr Smith was attacked and "left for dead" by a gang of nine men who "were holding sticks and shouting and yelling abuse at me". He said: "I couldn't run, they just attacked me. They hit me on the head and I fell down. They were saying, 'it's the one'. I was bleeding and they hit me on the eye and I became unconscious. They continued attacking me; they stabbed me on the right-hand side of the stomach and tried to cut my big toe off. I have lost sight in my left eye because of the attack." Smith sought asylum in the UK after feeling it was unsafe to stay in Uganda where homosexuals have to be reported to the authorities.

His life was about running, hiding and fear of being found out . Not cocktails and Kylie, not an 'outcast.' A human being . Shame on the Star.